The transmission bit rate in switching equipment is technologically limited by the switching speed of the switching elements utilized in the switching equipment, whereas higher transmission bit rates are definitely possible on the links between the switching equipment.
An article in the reference Nachrichtentechnische Zeitschrift, Vol. 43 (1990), No. 11, pages 810-815 discloses a switching network for switching message cells that are transmitted according to the ATM (asynchronous transfer mode) principle.
Given this modularly structured switching network, the modules are connected to one another via connecting lines or links on which the transmission bit rate is four times higher than in the switching elements of the modules. Further, the message cells in this switching network are respectively subdivided into segments and provided with destination information that describes the switching network output to which the respective message cell should proceed. On the basis of this destination information, the output to be used and, thus, further path to the next switching element in the next stage of the switching network, is individually defined in every switching element for every message cell. Given what is thus referred to as "self-routing switching network", the destination information carried along by every message cell is interpreted in every switching element of the switching network. As a result every message cell, so to speak, itself seeks its route to the appertaining switching network output. In addition to incurring the outlay for interpreting the destination information to be undertaken in every switching element, this switching network design also requires a constant availability of information about the current switching network configuration in the switching elements, resulting in a relatively high complexity of the switching elements.
The present invention resolves the problem of avoiding the aforementioned disadvantages.